Today's Ecommerce Pulse
Target launches Circle Deal Days to challenge Amazon Prime Day
Target is launching its Target Circle Deal Days from June 23‑26, positioning the free‑to‑join program as a direct rival to Amazon Prime Day. New members who enroll between June 14‑22 receive a 15% discount on their first purchase, plus a free Starbucks coffee or Bullseye cookie on launch day, and a 50% discount on the first year of Target Circle 360.
Also developing:
By the numbers: FirstClub raises $55M Series B
From Scroll to Chat to Cart: Trends Reshaping How India Shops
At the 2026 Meta Marketing Summit in Bangalore and Mumbai, Meta highlighted a fundamental shift in Indian e‑commerce from search‑driven buying to scroll‑led discovery powered by AI, short‑form video and conversational messaging. New AI tools now auto‑populate product carousels from creatives, generate UGC‑style videos and translate voiceovers, streamlining campaign creation. Reels dominate short‑form video consumption, with 92% of users preferring the format and brands reporting up to 20% higher efficiency. WhatsApp now fuels 72% of product discovery, delivering a 61% lift in return on ad spend for retailers.
AI Shopping Agents Are Already Ranking Your Store. Do You Know Where You Stand?
AI shopping agents are already evaluating retailers before a human ever sees a website, using delivery data to rank options. nShift’s Johan Hellman outlines a five‑stage maturity curve that shows why most stores are invisible and how they can become...
Amazon Wants to Be a Beauty Powerhouse. Is a Big Beauty Sale the Answer?
Amazon closed its fourth‑annual Summer Beauty Event, offering discounts up to 50% on makeup, skincare and vitamins. The retailer reported $8 billion in U.S. beauty sales for Q1 2026, underscoring its growing foothold in the category. To shift from a discount‑driven...
TikTok Shop Is the New “It” Beauty Destination
TikTok Shop has surged to become the sixth‑largest health‑and‑beauty e‑commerce platform in the United States, generating between $2.5 billion and $4.4 billion in gross market value. The channel’s beauty category is expanding at an 84 % year‑over‑year rate, fueled by creator‑driven short‑form videos...
Flipkart Poised to Dominate High‑ASP E‑commerce Surge
The ICICI Securities report puts Indian e-commerce on track to nearly triple by 2030, but the more useful read is which part of that growth is genuinely up for grabs. High-ASP categories like smartphones, appliances and electronics, where household penetration...
Instacart Launches Unified Fulfillment Pro Suite to Streamline Grocery Picking and Delivery
Instacart announced new delivery management software for retailer-owned fleets and enhanced enterprise-grade picking capabilities, expanding its Fulfillment Pro suite. The upgrades aim to reduce operational complexity for grocery retailers as online grocery demand accelerates amid consumer financial stress.
Shein Faces New Lawsuit for Alleged Fake 'Price History' Tracker on Product Listings, Plaintiffs Armed With 12 Months of Tracking...
Shein is facing a new federal class‑action lawsuit alleging it fabricated reference prices to create a false sense of discount on its listings. The complaint, filed on May 5, 2026 in the Central District of California (Case No. 3:26‑cv‑04062), claims the retailer’s “price...
Swap Storefront Claims 2× Conversion Rates as Top Brands Deploy AI‑Powered Commerce
Swap launched its first agentic storefront, an AI‑powered sales channel that operates outside a brand’s main website and is already delivering conversion rates double the industry average. More than 20 retailers, including SIMKHAI and Retrofête, have signed on, signaling rapid...
France Urges EU to Escalate Enforcement on Shein and Temu, with 46% of Inspected Products Non-Compliant and 100,000 Pulled
France has urged the European Union to tighten enforcement against Asian‑origin e‑commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu after a recent audit found 46% of inspected items unsafe. French regulators removed more than 100,000 products since April 2025, tripling testing...
Stripe and Google Launch Agentic Commerce via Gemini AI
Stripe announced a partnership with Google to integrate its agentic checkout into the Gemini AI assistant, creating a direct purchase channel for consumers. The deal expands Stripe's AI platform roster to four major providers and adds stablecoin and Brazil's Pix...
Why Your Storefront and ERP Disagree on Price
The article explains why prices shown on a Dynamics 365 Business Central‑linked storefront can differ from the price enforced at checkout. It traces the mismatch to pricing logic that runs in the ERP at order validation, while the storefront often displays...
Insider One Acquires Bluecore to Expand Its Agentic AI Customer Engagement Platform with Retail Identity and Behavioral Data
Insider One has acquired Bluecore, a retail marketing technology firm serving over 400 enterprise brands, to enhance its autonomous AI customer engagement platform. Bluecore brings its Transparent ID Network, which processes more than 10 billion shopper events daily and converts anonymous...
Amazon Launches 30‑Minute ‘Amazon Now’ Delivery Across U.S. Cities
Amazon announced the nationwide rollout of its ultra‑fast 30‑minute delivery service, Amazon Now, in major markets such as Atlanta, Dallas‑Fort Worth, Philadelphia and Seattle. The offering, priced at $3.99 per order for Prime members, expands a pilot that began in...
Tapestry Builds AI-Powered Mira to Pull Data, Make Decisions
Tapestry Inc., the parent of Coach and Kate Spade, launched Mira, an in‑house AI platform that aggregates data across merchandising, supply chain, finance and retail operations. The company secured a U.S. patent covering Mira’s core architecture and integrated Amazon Bedrock to...
Launch a Profitable AI‑Powered E‑Commerce Brand in Hours
How to build a profitable ecommerce brand using AI from zero (I tested this myself and got my first sale 1 hour after launching ads): 1. Find a product you're passionate about/know a little something about. Chances are you already know...
CGI Expands Partnership with Finland's Stockmann to Boost Omnichannel Retail
CGI and Finnish retailer Stockmann announced an expanded strategic partnership that adds managed IT services, AI‑enabled development and end‑user support to their existing collaboration. The deal, announced on May 12, 2026, aims to accelerate Stockmann’s omnichannel capabilities and profitability, leveraging...
EBay Board Rejects GameStop’s $56 B Unsolicited Takeover Offer
eBay’s board, led by Chairman Paul Pressler, turned down GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s unsolicited $56 billion offer to acquire the online marketplace. The rejection hinges on concerns over financing, leverage and the combined entity’s governance, setting the stage for a possible shareholder‑direct...
Amazon Launches an AI Shopping Assistant for the Search Bar, Powered by Alexa+
Amazon unveiled Alexa for Shopping, a new AI‑driven assistant that supersedes the earlier Rufus bot. Powered by Alexa+, it works via voice or text on mobile, desktop and Echo Show devices, delivering personalized product suggestions, price‑tracking and recurring‑order automation. The...
Amazon Ditches Rufus Chatbot, Launches Alexa Shopping Agent in AI Strategy Pivot
Amazon is retiring its Rufus chatbot and embedding its recommendation engine into a new Alexa for Shopping agent. The AI‑powered assistant appears as a chat window directly in Amazon search results, letting shoppers ask questions, compare products and schedule price‑triggered...
Study Finds Only Star Ratings Influence AI Shopping Agents, Traditional Tactics Falter
Harvard Business Review researchers tested eight common e‑commerce promotional badges on four AI models in more than 16,000 simulated shopping rounds and found that only star ratings consistently boosted selections. The study warns retailers that tactics honed for human psychology—discounts,...
Amazon Bazaar Records 5X Growth Amid Intense Value E-Commerce Competition
Amazon Bazaar, the Indian low‑cost marketplace launched in April 2024, posted a five‑fold year‑on‑year increase in 2026. Around 70% of its catalogue is priced below $3.14, with a maximum price of $6.27, and the platform now hosts over 30,000 sellers...
Forget Dances. TikTok Wants People To Shop
TikTok is accelerating its shift from a short‑form video app to a full‑stack ecommerce platform. In March it unveiled TikTok GO, letting users book travel and activities directly in the feed, and introduced Branded Buzz and Search Hubs to scale creator‑driven...
World Cup 2026 Set to Drive a New Wave of Retail Spend as Fans Shop the Moment, Not Just the...
Unified commerce agency Visualsoft predicts the 2026 FIFA World Cup will spark a new wave of online retail spend that extends far beyond traditional sports merchandise. Building on trends from the Women’s EURO 2025 and Paris 2024 Olympics, the agency...
Amazon Launches 30‑minute Delivery for Groceries, Electronics, Alcohol
Amazon will now deliver groceries, electronics and alcohol within 30 minutes in select cities including Austin, Denver, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix Atlanta and Seattle. The logistics here is wild when you consider what it takes for food delivery to happen...
Pro‑Iran Hackers Claim $200 Million‑Per‑Day DDoS Attack on eBay
The Islamic Cyber Resistance in Iraq – 313 Team announced a massive DDoS assault that knocked eBay offline for nearly 48 hours, costing the retailer as much as $200 million per day. The group also boasted of parallel attacks on Spotify...
Walmart+ Surge Shows Retail Memberships Are Still Scaling
Walmart+ reached an estimated 30.7 million members in early 2026, posting a 17% year‑over‑year increase. The service undercuts Amazon Prime on price while bundling free shipping, grocery delivery on orders over $35, fuel discounts and streaming perks. Its growth shows that...
Three Trends Defining Subscription Retail in 2026
The subscription retail landscape in 2026 is pivoting toward flexibility, AI‑driven management, and micro‑subscription bundles. Consumers now prioritize the ability to pause, skip, or cancel over price, prompting retailers to offer short‑term or weekly plans that lower entry barriers. Around...
West Bengal Tax Body Rejects Flipkart’s GST Exemption Model for Delivery Charges
West Bengal's Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling has reversed a prior decision that exempted Flipkart's delivery charges from GST, classifying the service as a courier rather than a goods transport agency (GTA). The authority ruled that the company's logistics chain—hub...
Sea Lifts Sales, Profit as Shopee Delivers Another Record Quarter
Sea Limited reported a strong first‑quarter performance, with revenue climbing 46.6% to $7.1 billion and gross profit up 40% to $3.1 billion. Net income rose 6.7% to $438.2 million and adjusted EBITDA hit $1 billion, reflecting robust growth across its e‑commerce, financial services and...
JD.com Beats Q1 2026 Estimates, Posts 4.9% Revenue Rise and $1 Bn Profit
JD.com announced first‑quarter 2026 results that topped analysts' forecasts, with revenue up 4.9% year‑on‑year and non‑GAAP net profit of RMB 7.4 bn (about $1 bn). The e‑commerce giant also repurchased $631 million of shares, reinforcing its commitment to shareholder returns.
TikTok Go Lets Users Book Hotels and Tours Directly From Travel Videos
TikTok introduced TikTok Go on Tuesday, a feature that turns travel‑inspiration videos into instant hotel and tour bookings. Partnered with Booking.com, Expedia, Viator, GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Trip.com, the move pushes the platform from content to commerce in the hospitality sector.
Shopify Shares Slip 9% After Weak Q1; Amazon Accelerates Logistics Push
Shopify reported a 34% year‑over‑year revenue increase but fell short of Wall Street expectations, prompting a 9% drop in its stock. At the same time, Amazon unveiled an aggressive expansion of its logistics services, targeting B2B shipments and leveraging AI...
Country Road Group Adopts Shopify Unified Commerce Platform for Five Brands
Country Road Group announced a partnership with Shopify to roll out a unified commerce platform across its five Australian brands—Country Road, Witchery, Trenery, Mimco and Politix. The move is billed as a way to modernise ecommerce, reduce friction and accelerate...
Vinted’s Manifest Destiny
Thomas Plantenga took over Vinted in 2017 when the Lithuanian resale marketplace was cash‑strapped after years of aggressive growth. He rejected a $250 million takeover bid from Naspers, opting instead to raise €25 million (about $27 million) to keep the company independent. Plantenga...
As AI Traffic Surges 393%, ChannelEngine Launches Tools to Help Marketplace Sellers Stay Visible
ChannelEngine unveiled its Spring ’26 release, introducing an AI Attribute Builder that lets marketplace sellers generate and enrich product attributes using plain‑language prompts. Adobe Analytics shows AI‑driven traffic to U.S. retail sites surged 393 % year‑over‑year in Q1 2026 and now converts...
VTEX Revenue, GMV Grow Double Digits in Q1
VTEX reported Q1 FY26 revenue of $60.7 million, a 12.1 percent increase year over year, and GMV of $5.1 billion, up 17.1 percent. Subscriptions accounted for 98.8 percent of revenue, growing 14 percent, as the company deepened its AI‑driven commerce suite. More than 20 Top‑2000 retailers...
InMobi’s MobileAction Deal Boosts Agentic Commerce And Global Advertising
InMobi announced the acquisition of MobileAction, an AI‑powered app‑marketing platform, to strengthen its agentic commerce offering and expand into the Apple ecosystem. The deal adds MobileAction’s data on millions of creatives, keywords and apps, complementing InMobi’s Glance platform that already...
Trump Phone Pre‑Sale Scam Swindles MAGA Supporters of $59 Million
Trump Mobile, backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, raised $59 million from 590,000 pre‑orders for a non‑existent “Trump Phone.” The scheme, marketed as a Made‑in‑USA Android device, never delivered, leaving buyers with only a $100 deposit and no refunds.
FourKites Launches Live Logistics Integration for Inventory Twin, Boosting Real‑Time Visibility
FourKites has rolled out live logistics links within its Inventory Twin platform, enabling e‑commerce merchants to feed real‑time shipment data into planning models. The upgrade can flag inventory risks up to 14 days ahead and automatically recommend corrective moves, tightening...
Master Cart Abandonment: 5 Rules to Maximize Revenue
Most ecom brands set up their cart abandonment flow once, then leave it running on autopilot for years, even though it recovers more revenue than any other automated flow they run. Here are 5 cart abandonment rules you need to know: →...
OroCommerce Partners with Intellias, Introduces a New Integration with iPaaS.com
OroCommerce announced two strategic moves in May: a strategic partnership with AI specialist Intellias and a new integration with iPaaS.com. The Intellias deal adds artificial‑intelligence capabilities, such as predictive demand forecasting, to OroCommerce’s B2B platform. The iPaaS.com integration creates a...
AI Shopping Launches Surge, Consumer Adoption Remains Zero
There's an interesting disconnect between the number of big tech companies that have launched AI shopping experiences (most of them) and the number of people I know who have talked to me about using AI to shop (zero)
Klarna Brings BNPL Into Google’s AI Shopping Experience
Klarna’s buy‑now‑pay‑later services are now embedded in Google’s AI‑powered Gemini app and Google Search checkout flows. The integration surfaces Klarna’s flexible payment plans, including BNPL and longer‑term financing, with an affordability check at point of purchase. Klarna reports AI‑referenced traffic...
Shopback: Get 100% Back On Temu (Limit $35)
Shopback is running a limited‑time promotion that refunds 100% of a Temu purchase, up to $35, for a single order per user. The deal expires at midnight on May 12, 2026, and is accessed through the Shopback portal or browser extension. The...
Google Integrates Klarna, Affirm Into Gemini AI Checkout
Buy now, pay later services in AI surfaces -> Google Adds Klarna, Affirm as AI Shopping Payment Options in Gemini app and in AI Mode "When shoppers are making a purchase from Gemini or Google search results, Affirm and Klarna...
USPS Ground Advantage vs Ounce Rates: What Businesses Need
USPS Ground Advantageand ounce based rate differences. Interesting for a business focusing on parcels. #ecommerce
Gen Z Influencer Walter Hits $1 Million Milestone on TikTok Shop Selling Top Beauty Brands
Walter, a 21‑year‑old TikTok creator, leveraged TikTok Shop to sell Medicube, Neutrogena and other beauty products, earning over $1 million in two years and $20,000‑plus per month. His rise underscores the power of influencer‑driven e‑commerce for brands targeting Gen Z shoppers.
Alibaba's $430 Million Bet on Qwen Is Quietly Dismantling the Search-Based Shopping Model
Alibaba has embedded its Qwen conversational AI assistant across Taobao and Tmall, giving shoppers a chat‑driven path through a catalog of more than 4 billion items. The move replaces traditional keyword search with a full‑journey experience that handles discovery, payment and...
Supreme Court to Hear Case That Could Undermine Arbitration in Last‑Mile Delivery Disputes
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging the enforceability of arbitration clauses in last‑mile delivery contracts. The dispute pits manufacturers against logistics providers and could reshape how thousands of delivery agreements are resolved, potentially limiting the...
Trip.com Unveils Eight Tips to Slash Hotel Costs, Up to 25% Off
On May 11, 2026, Trip.com published an eight‑point guide that shows travelers how to lower flight and hotel prices, bundle bookings, and leverage its loyalty program. The tips promise discounts of up to 25% on hotels and 200% more Trip...